Advancements in communication technologies have permitted the development and deployment of new types of communication systems and communication services. Cellular telephony, and associated communication services available therethrough, are popularly utilized by many, typically providing users with communication mobility and also provides the capability of communications when the use of wireline communication systems would not be practical or possible.
While early-generation, cellular communication systems provided primarily for voice communications and only limited data communication services, newer-generation systems increasingly provide for high-speed data communication services at variable data communication rates. A CDMA2000, cellular communication system that provides for EV-DO services is an exemplary type of new-generation, cellular communication system that provides for high-speed data services. Operational details and protocols defining communications and operational requirements of devices of the system are set forth in an operating standard specification. Various aspects of operation of the CDMA2000 EV-DO communication scheme remain to be standardized and certain parts of the existing standard specification are considered for amendment. Various successor-generation communication schemes are also undergoing standardization and yet others are envisioned to be standardized.
For instance, a revision to the standard specification, release B of the CDMA2000 EV-DO specification standard that defines a quick paging channel (QPCH) available upon which to broadcast access-terminal pages by an access network (AN) to an access terminal (AT). The QPCH was adopted in industry contributions 3GPP2 C20-20060323-013R1 and 3GPP2 C20-20060323-003R1 and published in 3GPP2 document C.S0024-B V1.0. Generally, pages are broadcast by the access network to an access terminal to alert the access terminal of a pending communication. And by so alerting the access terminal, the access terminal performs actions to permit the effectuation of the communication. Page indications broadcast upon the quick paging channel are broadcast in a manner that facilitates reduced battery consumption of the access terminal by reducing the battery consumption of the battery of the access terminal. Increased battery longevity is provided, reducing the rate at which a battery of the access terminal must be recharged. The access terminal is, as a result, able to be operated for a greater period of time between rechargings or battery replacement. The aforementioned promulgations provide for broadcast of a message including page indications upon a physical logical layer that is monitored by the access terminal. The access terminal monitors the QPCH prior to monitoring the control channel to receive regular, control channel MAC (medium access control) messages such as page messages. A quick page message is broadcast upon the QPCH that contains quick page indicators. The quick page message includes a number of quick page indicator slots populated with quick page indicators.
During operation, a mobile station hashes to a quick page indicator location, i.e., slot, within the quick page message based upon a session seed, a 32-bit pseudorandom number. If the quick page indicator of the quick page indicator slot to which the access terminal hashes indicates that the access terminal is not being paged, the access terminal enters into a sleep state, a reduced-power state, in which the access terminal does not remain powered at a level to receive the regular control channel MAC messages. Power savings is particularly significant in the event that the control channel MAC messages are lengthy and span multiple control channel frames or capsules.
In the existing scheme, however, the access terminal is susceptible to the occurrence of a false wakeup, that is, the access terminal does not enter into a sleep state but, rather, the access terminal enters into an active state to monitor the regular control channel for reception of regular control channel MAC messages even though there shall be no message for the access terminal. Because the communication system is a multi-user system, there is a possibility that another access terminal that is being paged has its page indication hashed to the same page indication slot. As the number of access terminals that are paged in a system increases, the likelihood of occurrence of a false wakeup correspondingly increases.
Various proposals have been set forth relating to generation, and use, of quick paging messages on a QPCH. The IS-2000 QPCH and the EV-DO Release B Signaling QPCH pertain to quick page messages broadcast on a QPCH. The IS-2000 QPCH is permitting of configuration at either 9600 bps or 4800 bps and also provides for the number of QPCHs to be configurable. The EV-DO release B signaling QPCH permits the number of bits in the quick page message that are dedicated to paging indicators or indications, PIs, to be changed by way of a field in the message, a “quick page indicator count minus one” field.
The QPCH message, as presently-proposed provides thirty-five page indication locations, i.e., bits available to be populated with paging indicators. A proposed “partial hash comparison” scheme utilizes three of the thirty-five page indication locations, thereby reducing the page indication locations available for paging to thirty-two bits. While the proposed, partial hash comparison scheme reduces the false wakeup probability when paging load is relatively low, when the paging load increases, the reduction in the available page indication locations actually increases the possibility of false wakeup. An improvement to the existing proposal is needed as the proposal is beneficial only when the paging load is relatively low.
If a manner could be provided by which to reduce the occurrence of false wakeups, improved battery longevity of the access terminal would be possible.
It is in light of this background information related to paging by an access network of an access terminal that the significant improvements of the present invention have evolved.